The Basic Income Earth Network is eager to announce the creation of the international Municipal Leaders Roundtable, a conversation about the possibilities and realization of basic income at local, municipal and city wide, regional levels. The purpose is to facilitate a conversation between the different local authorities, municipal leaders, governors and other sub national forms of government, to share their experiences with each other and find the tools needed to issue an Unconditional Basic Income to the people in their territories.
BIEN, together with its partners, will create a virtual space where the mayors and governors of the world who are already experimenting with different basic income systems can meet and share their stories. From the local currency basic income in Gyeonggi, South Korea, to the digital social currency of Mumbuca in Maricá, Brasil, all the way to the growing Mayors for Guaranteed Income in the US, the purpose is to create a transcultural collective narrative about the increasing importance of doing UBI in our present moment and connect the efforts at an international level. The goal of this is to catalyze an internationalist municipal basic income movement of Mayors and other leaders around the world, and help to facilitate the narrative and scientific tools in order to do so.
For this, we welcome basic income activists from all over the world to reach out to outreach@basicincome.org if you want to help in bringing this to your local authorities and organize basic income in your area.
BIRAL
To organize the Municipal Leaders Roundtable, BIEN has created the Basic Income Research & Action Lab (BIRAL). BIRAL has two objectives:
The first objective is to create a series of seminars to share and analyze the experiences from already existing basic income systems around the world. BIRAL is meant to be a collaborative network of researchers, research teams, universities and local policy makers who are already engaged in doing research on Basic Income systems, pilots and those who are trying to enact UBI into being on the ground. BIRAL aims to synthetize the learnings from the emerging experiences around the world and turn these into useful tools for those interested in doing basic income in their regions.
The second objective is facilitating the Municipal Leaders roundtable conversations, connect the different leaders of the Earth and facilitate knowledge-sharing and critical support for other local mayors and governors interested in UBI; to contextualize and understand which tools they have available to them in order to issue a basic income to their citizens, either in the national or local currency, and expand the imagination of what is possible at local, regional and federal levels.
In order to begin this process, BIEN has partnered with Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies (FRIBIS) and the Gyeonggi Research Institute Basic Income Research Group for the organization of the first seminar. More details coming soon.
To see an invitation to watch the first seminar on the 28th May 2021 please click here..
The Jain Family Institute created a toolkit for municipalities interested in launching a basic income pilot. The Basic Income Earth Network does not endorse the definitions or language therein but hopes that readers will find it useful.
The 20th Basic Income Earth Network Congress will be hosted online from Wednesday 18 – Saturday 21 August 2021. The theme for the Congress is Idea to Reality. We want to consider how we take Basic Income from a big idea for big change to a reality. All are welcome to join us in discussion at this exciting time for the Basic Income Movement.
The conference will be hosted on Whova, a specialist online conference platform. You’ll be able to view the programme and pick which sessions to attend, securely view all the presentations on the platform, as well as take part in discussions and message boards and re-watch anything you might have missed for up to 6 months afterwards.
Basic Income Network Scotland, in partnership with the University of Strathclyde, are excited to be putting together a programme packed with perspectives on Basic Income in Scotland, the wider UK and around the world. We will present insights into the status of Basic Income in Scotland, including: the feasibility study into a Scottish Basic Income experiment, political attitudes and work on Basic Income, civil society perspectives, and creative and cultural demonstrations that represent the Scottish debate.
More about the Programme
The programme will be a dynamic mix of academic paper presentations, workshops, and special events showcasing the work of artists and Basic Income activists across the world. There will be strands focussing on Scotland; Canada; funding Basic Income; Basic Income and Health; Basic Income and the environment; the Philosophy of UBI, and more. Across four days we’re looking forward to welcoming nearly 200 speakers to share their work.
Our highlights include:
Annie Miller, co-founder of Basic Income Network Scotland, will be presenting at the Congress. Economist, academic, lecturer, Basic Income advocate and author, Annie has written several important books on Basic Income: A Basic Income Handbook (2017), A Basic Income Pocketbook (2020) and Essentials of Basic Income (2020).
You’ll also get the chance to hear from Guy Standing, another exciting author who’s made important contributions to literature on Basic Income, including his book Plunder of the Commons: A Manifesto for Sharing Public Wealth – which Brian Eno called ‘one of the most important books I’ve read in years’!
Representatives from Scotland’s Basic Income feasibility study;
Hearing from Scottish Universities Insight Institute project about Basic Income and Mental Health, Peace of Mind;
Representation from the United Nations Development Programme
Follow Citizen’s Basic Income Network Scotland on twitter and facebook and on its blog for more information about the programme.
Basic Income Network Scotland welcome donations to support their volunteer-led work on the Congress.
This will be the first time the Congress has taken place online and we’re happy that this means more people than ever will be able to attend. However there are still costs we need to cover – running an online conference has unique demands and requires just as much in terms of resources as an in-person conference! We’ll be providing moderation, technical support and any other required assistance to speakers and attendees throughout. The costs we need to cover include volunteers’ expenses and fees for software and web hosting.
Online conferences of a similar scale usually cost between £50 and £200 to attend. With the programme we’ve got lined up – four days of paper sessions, workshops and special events, hearing from leading thinkers on UBI, we think our suggested contributions are great value for money!
We’re asking all attendees to donate some of what you would have spent on attendance, travel and accommodation to support Basic Income Network Scotland, a volunteer-led organisation educating and advocating for Basic Income in Scotland and your local hosts for this edition of the BIEN Congress.
We’re asking for the following contributions, depending on your situation:
Individual/self-funded – £5-£10
Professional, attending one day only – £30
Professional, attending whole Congress – £50
Attending on behalf of an organisation who are supporting you to attend – £100
But of course, if you want to donate more, you’re welcome to!
We’re looking for volunteers to support and shape the delivery of this year’s BIEN Congress. This opportunity provides you with an instrumental role in hosting Basic Income experts and a conference of people from around the world determined to take Basic Income from idea to reality.
For obvious reasons the Congress this year will be online, but we’re determined to use this as an opportunity to increase the accessibility and diversity of attendees, infusing a traditional international academic conference with fresh ideas. The virtual platform will be used to create a dynamic and interactive community reflective of the Basic Income movement in Scotland.
Just before the congress begins a new comprehensive history of Basic Income will be published. Further details can be found here. In connection the congress, the publisher is giving a 50% discount on the hardback price until the end of August. Details can be found here.
From August 20 to 22, researchers, advocates, policymakers, and people with lived experience from 25 countries gathered at Toronto Metropolitan University… Read more: BIEN Congress 2026 Reflections
Join us for our inaugural seminarin a new ongoing series ofinformative and practical sessionson UBI pilots TOPIC 1: Life-Cycle of a… Read more: QUARTERLY SEMINAR SERIES
